MASAF Technological Innovation in Agriculture

MASAF has established the technological innovation fund at the opening with non-repayable contributions for companies belonging to the agricultural and fishing sectors that intend to introduce technological innovations.

Beneficiaries

Individual or associated SMEs, including their cooperatives and associations, which:

a) are registered in the business register with the qualification of "agricultural company", or with the qualification of "agromechanical company";

b) have been active for at least two years on the date of submission of the application;

c) have operational headquarters in the national territory;

d) there are no companies in difficulty pursuant to article 2, point 18, of the GBER Regulation;

e) make investments in technological innovation of an amount of no less than 70,000 euros and no more than 500,000 euros. For the fishing sector the minimum investment limit is set at 10,000 euros;

f) aid identified as illegal or incompatible by the European Commission is not included among the companies that have received and subsequently not reimbursed or deposited in a blocked account.

Eligible subjects

Individual or associated SMEs, including their cooperatives and associations, which:

a) are registered in the business register with the qualification of "agricultural company", or with the qualification of "agromechanical company";

b) have been active for at least two years on the date of submission of the application;

c) have operational headquarters in the national territory;

d) there are no companies in difficulty pursuant to article 2, point 18, of the GBER Regulation;

e) make investments in technological innovation of an amount of no less than 70,000 euros and no more than 500,000 euros. For the fishing sector the minimum investment limit is set at 10,000 euros;

f) aid identified as illegal or incompatible by the European Commission is not included among the companies that have received and subsequently not reimbursed or deposited in a blocked account.

Facilitation

In the case of an agricultural or fishing SME, the benefits that can be granted are as follows:

In the case of an Agromechanical SME or an Agricultural SME that carries out an agricultural activity that does not fall within the scope of application of articles 14 and 17 of the ABER, the concessions that can be granted are the following:

The benefit provides only agricultural and fishing SMEs with the possibility of benefiting from a guarantee of up to 80% of the nominal value of the bank loan. For the issuance of the aforementioned guarantees, direct contributions may be granted to reduce the cost of the guarantee commissions within the limits of 25% of the expected aid ceiling.

The following aid ceilings apply to the concessions:

a) for agricultural SMEs, operating in the sector of primary production of agricultural products or in the sector of processing or marketing of agricultural products, the maximum aid intensity is equal to 65% of eligible costs, which can be raised to 80% for investments by young farmers;

b) for fishing SMEs, operating in the fishing and aquaculture sector or in the sector of processing fishery and aquaculture products, the maximum aid intensity is equal to 50% of the eligible costs;

c) for agricultural SMEs that carry out an agricultural activity that does not fall within the scope of application referred to in the previous points and for agromechanical SMEs, aid is granted within the limits established by the de minimis Regulation. The coverage provided by the non-repayable contribution and the bank loan cannot exceed 95% of the total eligible costs.

Financing expenses:

a) agricultural machinery, tools and equipment. In particular, machines, including driving and operating machines, tools and devices for loading and unloading, handling, weighing and automatic sorting of pieces, automated lifting and handling devices, drones, Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) and systems flexible conveying and handling, and/or equipped with piece recognition, equipment for treatments with plant protection products and for spreading fertilizers, which satisfy one of the following requirements:

i) presence or compatibility with an ISOBUS or equivalent system with task controller functionality;

ii) presence of a light interconnection system that is capable of transmitting output data, functional, for example, to satisfy the additional requirements of remote maintenance and/or remote diagnosis and/or remote control and continuous monitoring of working conditions and process parameters;

iii) presence of an automatic or semi-automatic driving system;

iv) presence of a remote maintenance and/or remote diagnosis and/or remote control system;

v) presence of proprietary solutions for variable rate control, section control or parallel driving strategies;

vi) presence of an intelligent irrigation management system through sensing the irrigation conditions of the soil or crop and use of decision support algorithms that allow the best strategies to be established to optimize yield and minimize the consumption of water resources.

b) non-road mobile machinery for agriculture and animal husbandry. In particular, all machines falling within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2016/1628 (Requirements regarding emission limits of gaseous pollutants and particulate pollutants for internal combustion engines) that satisfy both of the following requirements:

i) electric motorization (so-called “zero emission cars”), e

ii) destination for agricultural or livestock activities.

c) machinery for livestock farming. In particular, machines and equipment dedicated to the livestock sector characterized by a high level of technology and automation, such as: machines whose operation is controlled by computerized systems or managed via appropriate sensors and nationalizations; machine tools and systems for the production of products through the transformation of materials and raw materials; in-process monitoring systems to ensure and track the quality of the product or production process and which allow the production processes to be qualified in a documentable manner connected to the factory information system. For these machines/equipment the presence of at least one of the following requirements is necessary:

i) lightweight interconnection system capable of transmitting output data, functional, for example, to satisfy the additional requirements of remote maintenance and/or remote diagnosis and/or remote control and continuous monitoring of working conditions and process parameters or

i) continuous monitoring system of working conditions and process parameters using appropriate sets of sensors.

d) agricultural tractors that fall within the scope of application of Regulation (EU) no.
167/2013, with Stage V engines, which satisfy at least one of the following requirements: i) presence of an ISOBUS or equivalent system, to guarantee the necessary interoperability with the equipment carried (for example, ISOBUS on-board display with Task Controller functionality);

ii) presence of an automatic or semi-automatic driving system based on GPS, to guarantee greater precision in processing and therefore also greater efficiency in terms of consumption (MISE Circular no. 177355);

iii) presence of a continuous monitoring system of working conditions and process parameters using appropriate sets of sensors.

e) investments for fishing and aquaculture linked to the following interventions:

(i) on-board equipment aimed at reducing the emission of pollutants or greenhouse gases as well as increasing the energy efficiency of fishing vessels;

ii) innovative and selective fishing gear;

(iii) innovative on-board tools and equipment that improve the quality of fishery products;

iv) machinery, tools and equipment for aquaculture useful for reducing the negative impact and accentuating the positive effects on the environment, as well as the more efficient use of the resources used in the process;

(v) machinery, tools and equipment aimed at achieving a considerable reduction in the impact of aquaculture enterprises on the use and quality of water, in particular by reducing the quantity of water used or of chemicals, antibiotics and other medicines or the improvement of the quality of outgoing water, also by using multitrophic aquaculture systems or systems that increase energy efficiency and encourage the use of renewable sources.

NB All eligible goods must be brand new. In the case of the purchase of agricultural tractors, the replaced vehicle must be uniquely identified when submitting the support application. The beneficiary must demonstrate possession of the scrappage certificate for the vehicles replaced according to current legislation.

Delivery

The preliminary investigation procedure will be concluded within thirty days from the date of submission of the application or from the date of receipt of the requested supplementary documentation. The manager, having received the supporting documentation of the investment and carried out the conformity checks, will provide the non-repayable contribution by communicating this to the beneficiary. In the case of investments made for a value lower than that permitted, the amount of the non-repayable contribution is recalculated on the basis of the reported costs.

Duration

The investments must be completed within 12 months from the date of communication of the decision to admit to the benefits.

Photo by Karsten Würth on Unsplash